Swimming appliance



1930. LE ROY F. sNAPP SWIMMING APPLIANCE Filed Feb. 23. 1927 ArTys.

Inventor. LeFioy FleTcher Snapp byMWzW Fig. 1.

Patented Jan. 28, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LE BOY FLETCHER SHAPE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK SWIMMING APPLIANCE Application filed February 23, 1927. Serial No. 170,161.

This invention relates to a swimming apthrough slots or openings 10 formed in the pliance and the principal object of theinsides of the member. vention is to provide a swimming appliance The blade or line 1 is pivotally connected which is simple in construction and which is to the sides of the attaching member so that 5 specially designed to be effective when the it can swing from the position shown in Fig. 55

swimmer is using a swimming stroke on the 2 to that shown in Fig. 3. Any suitable way order of the well known crawl stroke. of thus pivotally attaching the fin to the at- The device comprises a fin or blade artaching member may be employed without ranged to be attached to the bottom of each departing from the invention.

foot and constructed so that as the feet are In the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 60 moved up and down in the water the blades 3 the fin is formed at its base with two arms will have a very eflicient propelling effect 11 that are provided at their ends with trunsomewhat similar to that given by a fishs nions 12 that are pivoted in apertures 14 tail. formed in the sides 5 of the attaching mem- 15 In order to give an understanding of the her 4. 5

invention I have illustrated in the drawings In order to make a satisfactory pivotal cona selected embodiment thereof which will neetien and One which will be comfortable now h described aft r which the nov l f afor the swimmer Ihave formed each side 5 t tres will be pointed out in the appended Of the attaching member 4t With a Slit 13 and claims. have offset the metal between the slit and Fig. 1 is a view of a swimmer equipped the aperture 14 through which the trunnion with my improved swimming appliance; extends as shown at 15 so that the arm 11 Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of a may extend through the slit behind the offset swimmers foot having my improvement a portion 15, the end of the arm being bent 25 plied thereto, Figure 2 showing the position outwardly to form the trunnion 12 which is of the fin when the foot is moving upwardly ournalled in the aperture 14. With this conthrough the water and Fig, 3 when the fo t, struction the slit 13 acts as a sort of guide is moving downwardly; for the arms 11 and the ends of the arms Fig. 4 is a view illustrating a modification form stops which limit the swinging move- 30 of the invention, ment of the arm and the fin.

My improved swimming appliance com- VVitlrthe device attached to the feet as prises a fine or blade 1 which is constructed s O S u e 1 V01VeS merely 1110Vll1g the to be pivotally attached to the b tt m of th legs and feet up and down 111 the water and foot 2 of a swimmer 3, the fin being attached preferably the feet will be moved up and 35 to the foot so that it can swing about an down alternately as is usual in the crawl axis extending transversely of the f t, O stroke. As the swimmers foot is moved upconvenient way of attaching the fin to th wardly the fin will automatically assume the foot is by means of an attaching member 4 position shown in Fig. 2 it swinging down which is shaped to receive the heel portion below the PIVOtELl P in and occupying the 40 of the foot and is adapted to be strapped to toe de o the fOOtthe foot. The attaching member is of skele T e Sht 1 18 Of ch a length that when the ton shape, it having two side portions 5 th t fin is at the lower end of its movement it has extend along the sides f th fe t at th an inclined position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 ankle and which are connected both by th and as the foot is moved upwardly as shown back portion 6 that extends around the heel by the arrows at the pressure 0f the fin in its and by the bridge portion 7 which lies under inclined position against the waterwill have the arch of the foot in front of the heel 8. a very strong forward propelling force on This attaching member is shown as firmly the swimmer. Whe'nt feet P P 'Q h strapped to the foot by means of an attachsurface of the water the swiiinmer will reverse h1g strap 9 which is it striated as extending the movarrient and swing the trait aewnward 193 ly as shown by the arrows b in Figs. 1 and 3. As the foot is reversed the pressure of the water against the fin will reverse its position so that it will occupy a place opposite the heel portion of the foot. When the fin has been reversed and is at the limit of its upward position, as shown in Fig. 3, it still has an inclined position so that as the foot is moved downwardly it will give the swimmer a strong forward propelling force. The operation of the fin is thus somewhat similar to that of the tail of a fish when swimming and because of the arrangement shown there is no manipulation of the device required by the swimmer. All that is necessary is for the swimmer to move his feet up and down in the water and the swimming appliance will automatically function as above described The action of this device may also be likened to that of skullin a boat.

The fin may be made in various ways without departing from the invention. In Fig. 2, for instance, it is formed with a wire frame 16 of which the arms 11 form a part and this wire frame is covered with canvas or some other sheet material 17. I may also, if desired, provide the fin with a flexible extension 18 at its tip. This flexible extension will function to increase the propulsion during the reversing of the fin. As the fin is moved upwardly through the water the extension 18 will be bent backwardly by the pressure of the water. When the foot reaches the lower limit of its movement and begins to reverse the reversing movement will swing the fin downwardly into the position corresponding to that shown in Fig. 2 and as the fin is reversing the flexible extension 18 will also be reversed in position. This reversing of the flexible extension will increase the propulsive effect of the fin.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a different embodiment of the invention wherein the fin, which is indicated at 20, has a relatively stiff intermediate portion and has a flexible portion 21 at the edge where it is fastened to the attaching member 4 and also has a flexible tip 22 which functions like the flexible extension 18 in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

The fin shown in Fig. 4 may be secured to the attaching member in any suitable way. I have herein shown it as permanently secured to the bridge portion 7 of said attaching member, the portion 21 being sufficiently flexible to permit the fin to reverse and to swing from one operative position to the other.

It will thus be seen that while the invention is extremely simple in construction yet it is effective in operation as it adds very materially to the propelling force derived from moving the feet up and down in the water as is done in the crawl stroke.

While I have illustrated herein some selected embodiments of the invention I do not wish to be limited to the constructional features shown.

I claim:

1. A swimming appliance comprising a fin and means for attaching the fin to the bottom of the foot of a swimmer to have a swinging movement below the bottom of the foot and about an axis extending transversely thereof, and means to limit the swinging movement so that in each extreme position said fin stands at an acute angle to the plane of the bottom of the foot, said fin in one extreme position forming an acute angle with the heel portion of the foot and in the other extreme position forming an acute angle with the toe portion of the foot whereby when the swimmer is in a horizontal position in the water and swings his legs up and down each fin will have a forward propelling efl'ect both during the upward and the downward movement of the corresponding leg.

2. A swinging appliance comprising a fin having a relatively stiff body and a flexible tip, means for attaching the fin to the bottom of the foot of a swimmer to swing below the foot about an axis extending transversely to the foot, and means to limit the swinging movement so that in each extreme position said fin stands at an angle to the plane of the bottom of the foot, said fin in one extreme position forming an acute angle with the heel portion of the foot and in the other extreme position forming an acute angle with the toe portion of the foot whereby when the swimmer is in a horizontal position in the water and swings his legs up and down each fin will have a forward propelling effect both during the upward and the downward movement of the corresponding leg.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

'LE ROY FLETCHER SNAPP. 

